Golden Valley area plan due for review in a month, planner says

The Golden Valley Area Plan, which has undergone some technical changes during the past year, should be ready for public review next month, county planner Kevin Davidson said.

Davidson said he plans to conduct a public meeting about the plan, which will go before the Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission and then the county supervisors, who have the final say.

He said the area plan committee adopted a "hybrid" plan that combines elements of the 1980 area plan and the general plan update of 1995.

Area plans, which apply to specific regions, are designed to be in effect for one to two decades.

The hybrid plan calls for accepting the density for a 12-square-mile corridor along State Route 68 – as envisioned in the general plan – and the lower density in outlying areas, as designated in the previous area plan.

"The plan that was given the tentative approval last November was a pretty good plan," Davidson said.

"It combines the two land-use plans.

It meets the desire of the area plan committee."

Committee member Bobbi Bork said she is not familiar with the details of the hybrid plan, adding she plans to attend the upcoming meeting.

Another committee member, Jim Helwig, said he did not attend the meeting in November because he was out of state.

"We are watching to see how things develop," Helwig said.

"My concerns are it always seems that the people who just moved here want to limit growth, and my concern is having those people dictate to us what our land use is going to be in the future."

Helwig, a real estate agent, and Bork, who is retired, represented different factions on the committee.

Bork, a resident for about four years, favored aspects of a proposed plan that called for more stringent zoning and a commitment to not letting water usage exceed the recharge rate for the aquifer – unless another water source is tapped.

"I thought it had a lot of advantages," she said.

"I just think it would be nice to have planned communities."

However, Helwig, a resident for about 17 years, feared the plan would restrict property rights.

Real estate brokers and developers packed a meeting in February 2001 when they voted to scrap the proposed changes and endorsed the existing area plan.

Davidson later informed committee members that they needed to make the area plan and the county's general plan consistent.

For instance, the area plan shows a range from 16,689 to 66,613 dwellings, Davidson stated in May 2001.

The general plan update would allow a range from 35,517 to 289,536 dwellings.

The hybrid plan covers about 85 square miles, Davidson said.

The area extends on the north to Chinle Drive, south to Shinarump Drive, east to U.S.